COMMUNITY FORUM on Shared Services/Merger Draft Final Report: Monday, November 18, 7pm, Orange High School

Please visit the City website here or read the image below.

Live Chat Thursday with County Director of Regional Collaboration

Please come join the online live chat tomorrow (Thursday, November 15, 2012) with me and Cuyahoga County Director of Regional Collaboration, Ed Jerse. Many of you may recall that I love live chats, so I'm very excited to be doing this with the Civic Commons (my day job).

To add more fun, I've known Ed for many years and it is going to be an honor to moderate this conversation about the County's efforts in shared services, collaboration, consolidation and yes - I'll say it - merger. Please come lurk and engage from 11-12noon.

Can't be there? Leave a question or comment now and Ed will respond later.

You can watch the event unfold here.

Which Political Subdivisions Are At Risk for Bankruptcy?

I've been getting a lot of questions and comments lately about municipalities and bankruptcy. As some readers may recall, in 2010, I pressed our then-finance director to please address just what bankruptcy in a municipal setting is all about (I should add that there was extreme reluctance from pretty much all corners to entertain such a question but that's another story - my point was that people needed to be aware of what we were looking at when we looked over the cliff). I never believed that I would contribute to any decisions that would in fact lead Pepper Pike into bankruptcy, but as a former director of risk management, this is what you do - you need to know.

My responses, this year, have all been that there are many circumstances that must exist for bankruptcy to end up being the option chosen by (or forced on) a municipality and that the examples we're seeing in the news are not comparable to Pepper Pike, for many reasons, despite any similarities people may seem to recognize. This article which I just read today, "Surviving California Municipal Bankruptcies," is a good primer on just how it happens, and how it can be prevented.  And I've kept an eye on this community for a while - San Carlos - because I listened into a shared services webinar they did a few months ago about all the steps they've taken to maintain service provision and not go near bankrupt.

With the switch to Beachwood for Pepper Pike dispatch starting yesterday, we're well on our way to learning from examples like San Carlos - and that's a good thing.

UPCOMING! Health Fair in the Park, Community Meeting about New Library, Candidates & Issues Night

1. From the City's website:

You're Invited to the CITY OF PEPPER PIKE'S HEALTH AND WELLNESS FAIR - SATURDAY, JULY 21 - 9 AM - 1 PM

WHERE: Pepper Pike Park

WHAT: Join University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center for a fun day of activities to help the City of Pepper Pike become "the healthiest place to live". Featuring the official kick-off of Mayor Richard Bain's "Biggest Winner" health challenge, we'll celebrate a new era of health and wellness through out our community. Click "more..." to view the University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center and the City of Pepper Pike Health Fair flyer for more information!

You can find the flyer on this page of the City website.

2. From the Cuyahoga County Public Library (see full flyer here):

WHAT: Community Meeting
WHEN: Thursday, July 26, 2012, 6:00PM
WHERE: Pepper Pike Learning Center, 32000 Chagrin Boulevard, Pepper Pike 44124

We Want to Hear from You!   The public is invited to attend a community meeting regarding the new Orange Branch of Cuyahoga County Public Library.  Library representatives will give a brief presentation,  followed by a Q&A.
EVENT HELD at ORANGE CITY SCHOOLS

3. From the Pepper Pike Civic League:

WHAT: Candidates & Issues Night

WHEN: Thursday, September 20, 2012, 7:00-9:00PM
WHERE: Brady Middle School, 32000 Chagrin Boulevard, Pepper Pike 44124

New 15,000 sq foot Orange Branch of Cuyahoga County Public Library coming to Pepper Pike

Read all about it here - it will be next to the Orange Senior Center. What do you think? What do you want? What don't you want? How should the old space be utilized - or not?

Collabbing - It's What's Up in Government Provision of Services

From my day job, something that has a lot to do with what's swirling around Pepper Pike and the communities adjacent to ours.  Read the whole thing here, but here's a teaser:

Over the weekend, I came home from a few hours out with a friend to find my middle-school son transferring files and installing programs from his fairly puny and old laptop to my college-bound son's more powerful and newer one. Curious as to how the former presumably conned the latter into this arrangement, I asked. And the response warmed my kumbaya-loving heart.

"We collabbed." Pronounced like, "co-labbed" like the nickname for laboratory, lab, and short for collaboration.

Now where on Earth did a 12 year old get such language to even describe what he'd done!?

For those committed to regionalism & government collaboration

This Friday will be a watershed in Ohio: Word came down today that the Ohio Department of Development office in charge of the Local Government Innovation Fund grants and loans will gather at 1pm on Friday to announce awards:

The Local Government Innovation Fund Council will hold a public meeting on Friday June 1, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. at the Vern Riffe Center, 77 South High Street, 19th Floor Room 1960, Columbus, Ohio 43215.

The Council’s agenda includes reviewing Round 1 Loan and Grant applications for approval and award.

If you haven't been keeping up on just how much activity has increased in the area of shared services, across the country and literally the globe, then I highly recommend you subscribe to the EfficientGovNetwork news feed - it's part of my day job and I update it at least a couple of times a week, though I shoot for everyday. And there are more than enough news stories about efforts large and small to post multiple stories each day.

If you want to see that it's really happening and who is actually doing this work, check out the mash up here. And if you want to look more deeply at how it's done, check out the Wiki playbook (beta version). We'll be filling that up over time.

How will NE Ohio do? We don't know yet - but we'll know soon! (The study part of the four community merger was submitted by the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission - that's the only one I'm aware of for sure that Pepper Pike was involved in.)

Free tours of Cleveland Waterworks

If you've seen the Magic School Bus's Waterworks cartoon, then, like me, maybe you've also always wanted to see inside a water processing facility. On May 12th, to celebrate National Drinking Water Week (click on the link in the righthand sidebar to see the flyer), the Cleveland Water Department is offering free tours between 10am and 4pm at its Baldwin Water Works (11216 Stokes Boulevard, Cleveland, 44104 - the one you pass if you're coming up from University Circle near Shaker Square) and Garrett A. Morgan Water Works (1245 W. 45th Street, Cleveland, 44102).

I'm going and expect to bring my kids as well. Probably won't be quite as exciting as Ms. Frizzle, but you never know.

If you are interested, call Margreat Jackson at 216-664-2444 x5717 to schedule a tour.

Give input on Cuyahoga County Public Library & County Metroparks

A chunk of your property taxes goes to Cuyahoga County and two of the entities that receive a portion are the County Public Library and the Metroparks. (You can see more specific information here at the City's website or call the City and ask for the Finance Department.) Both those entities have opportunities for you to provide input:

Cuyahoga County Seeks Library Input provides details about where, when and the subject of the input they're collecting.  It does not appear that they'll be at the Orange branch but they will be at Solon & Mayfield.

Metroparks Seeks Public Input at South Chagrin indicates that there's a meeting this evening at North Chagrin Nature Center and one next Thursday evening at South Chagrin's Look About Lodge if you're interested. Both run from 5:30-7:30pm.

Chagrin Solon Sun editorial: "Disband Woodmere Police Department"

Please read it for yourself, but here's an excerpt:

As we see it, from a numbers standpoint, the decision is quite simple. Paying Orange $500,000 a year to provide police protection to the village is a much better alternative than paying the salaries and benefits of nine full-time officers as well as equipment, vehicles, uniforms and facility maintenance. This is a move that must be made, and soon.

...

We realize the police department is one of the few things Woodmere can boast as its own, and taking that away could open the door to the village eventually losing its identity altogether and being merged with Orange or Pepper Pike. Maintaining the stubborn stance of keeping the department for pride’s sake, however, will only hasten the demise of the village. As much as Woodmere residents may want the village to hold on to one of the few remaining things it can truly call its own, they also have to look at the big picture and realize that the village cannot afford to maintain the status quo.

It's an editorial that definitely acknowledges a number of problematic elements related to why this wasn't Mayor Smith's first choice even after the state audit indicated that he needed to downsize his Village's PD. But even so, just being empathetic, this cannot be easy - though I suspect once it's accomplished, many people may come to feel like they should have done it sooner.

Wherefore art thou, regionalism?

Just askin' - from the Sunday Plain Dealer, "Westlake's pursuit of new water source threatens stability of Cleveland utility":

One of Cleveland's biggest customers, Westlake is working on plans to set up its own water department and buy wholesale from the Avon Lake water system in neighboring Lorain County.

The Cleveland water department, already struggling with declining consumption, is moving aggressively to stop the revolt led by longtime Westlake Mayor Dennis Clough.

It would be the first defection from the regional water system since several Lake County communities left in the early 1980s, and it could have far-reaching ramifications. Some fear that if Westlake pulls out, other dissatisfied western suburbs will follow.

Read the entire piece, as it also reveals a real battle of the consultants.

What would you do if you were Westlake? Avon? Cleveland? Another suburb using Cleveland - oh wait, we are.

Cleveland.com comment thread on Woodmere/Orange Village police arrangement

This article ("Woodmere may shut police department and hire Orange for protection") appeared in the Plain Dealer on Friday, 1/20/12 but the comment section is open for far longer than that. Read through - there are several mentions of Pepper Pike and other ideas related to whether communities should merge or not, and which ones, and why, and regarding which services.

Add to the debate there or here but do make sure you let your opinion be known by people in decision-making capacities.

Woodmere police chief resigns, Orange Village may take on its police functions

From the Chagrin Solon Sun:

[Woodmere Mayor Charles] Smith said the village is talking to Orange Village about contracting out Woodmere’s police services.

“We’re in a fiscal emergency and we are at a point where we can’t afford the police department,” Smith said. “The department represents 55 percent of our budget and for our small village of only five streets and 800 people, we are looking for opportunities to create sustainability.”

Last year, Smith said the village was going to do anything and everything to preserve the police department, but the current financial situation is not allowing the village to pay its bills in a timely manner. He is taking Orange Village’s $500,000 offer to conduct Woodmere policing very seriously.

So, should we have or shouldn't we have - taken on Woodmere's dispatch services?

As always, read the full article for the broader context.

PD Editorial: "Costs and benefits all point unmistakably to need for regionalization of municipal services"

Goodness knows I spend a lot of time on this in my day job, but a few words of caution: when capital needs total in the tens of millions, overselling regionalization as a panacea may cause frustration and disappointment.

I see the effort here as one that involves re-setting the default, permanently, so that when a public entity is faced with an identified need they want to fulfill, the first response is not automatically: how do we do this ourselves (including how to get the money from their taxpayers).  Rather, the default becomes to ask, think, consider: who else is doing this, how are they getting it done, can we do it together and if so, is that going to preserve our finances and fulfill the need?

Regionalism is about willpower and culture and mindset. It doesn't happen overnight, it shouldn't be overglorified, and it also shouldn't be demonized.  What it should be is given a chance - that includes succeeding and failing, because it does not always turn out to be the best thing. But you never know until you try, and there's not been that much of that going on either.

Here's the PD's piece.

Searchable Greenhouse gas data now available-see what's near us

It looks and sounds like a great tool but when you zero in on Cuyahoga County, I confess - I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking at in terms of the numbers - it's not something I've self-educated or otherwise learned about. Chagrin Fall's resident, EcoWatch publisher and small businesswoman Stefanie Penn Spear posted this information about the tool to help us understand and use it.

The PD article gives some thoughts as to how it can be used:

"These numbers can be used by business to monitor emissions. They can be used by the states, and they can be can be used by the finance and investment community to make more informed investment choices," she said.

"What we bank on is that better information will lead to a better informed public, which will lead to better environmental protection," McCarthy said.

The database is ghgdata.epa.gov, and includes a tutorial. It can be focused on an industry or a state or smaller geographic area.

At last night's Road & Safety meeting, Mayor Bain made a point of saying that he intends to make the Pepper Pike municipal campus more green, so accessing and considering this kind of information certainly fits in with the tenor of what's happening or going to happen in our community.

MEETING TIME CHANGED: Road & Safety Meeting this Weds. at 8:00PM not 7:30PM

We received notice yesterday and it's on the City's website (thank you!) here.

BONUS for reading this blog: You can now listen online here to the five new NE Ohio mayors talk about the tasks they face and how they'll face them (a lot of time spent on the topic of regionalism and collaboration and how exactly they plan on moving forward on those issues).  The conversation took place Thursday morning on WCPN's Sound of Ideas show and included Pepper Pike Mayor Richard Bain.

Inuaguration Day and the start of 2012 in Pepper Pike

No matter the weather yesterday, a lovely crowd of residents attended the swearing-in of Mayor Richard Bain, two new Councilmen - Tony Gentile, Jim LeMay and the incumbent, Gail Mayland.  Here's what it looked like outside:

 And here's Mayor Bain giving brief comments afterwards:

One note about this coming year that I've yet to see mentioned in the media: the merger study timeline has been extended by one year.  According to at least two people who were present at the meeting where this decision was made, the quantity of information demanded by the study and the possibility that the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission will apply for Local Government Innovation Fund money to help pay for the study factored into the decision.

What this means practically for residents of the four communities (Moreland Hills, Orange Village, Pepper Pike and Woodmere), is that there will be no vote in relation to the merger concept in November 2012.

News Feed on EfficientGov & Regionalism Efforts in NE Ohio

I've written very little, by design, about my work for The Civic Commons EfficientGovNetwork project I'm directing, but if electeds and candidates across NE Ohio are going to bandy about the suggestion that political subdivisions should be engaging in more sharing, collaborating, consolidating and other service provision designs often associated with regionalism, then they should be following one of the single best sources, right now, of that information - here.

At that site, you will find podcasts with mayors, past and present, who describe what it takes to  accomplish major acts of government collaboration and/or are contemplating such efforts.  You will find, from today alone, five news items about government collaboration and efficiency throughout the northern Ohio counties.  You will find a powerful, short promo video with clips from individuals as diverse as Ohio Governor John Kasich and East Cleveland Mayor Gary Norton, both promoting a need to look more at how government delivers services.

The Civic Commons is issue and outcome agnostic - but those who engage there absolutely are not.

If you're dedicating yourself to the idea that going regional, sharing services and consolidation is the way of the future for municipalities, you owe it to yourself to dig into the literally hundreds and hundreds of pages of resources and other materials at The Civic Commons EfficientGovNetwork site.

Storified Coverage of Merging the Suburbs Luncheon today

Enjoy.

This Coming Thursday, October 6: Four Mayors Involved in Merger Study

You can read the information here (or here).  The details:

Merging the Suburbs

Date: Thursday, October 6, 2011
Location: Landerhaven (6111 Landerhaven Drive, Mayfield Heights, Ohio, 44124; you can contact them directly at 440.449.0700)

Time: 11:30am Registration | 12 noon Luncheon and Program Featuring:

Mayor Bruce Akers, City of Pepper Pike
Mayor Charles Smith, Woodmere Village
Mayor Kathy Mulcahy, Orange Village
Mayor Susan Renda, City of Moreland Hills

Moderator:  Tom Beres
$35 per person / $270 per table of (8) eight